Today’s was that day we all look forward to with excitement and anticipation. Jury duty day! I spent hours and hours sitting in a room with 50 strangers to fulfill our civic duty of being there just in case we could participate in the justicial process. Long story short, there was not a single case that required our services. Maybe next time. 

My mood

There was a sort of generation gap in the room. Many people thought to bring books (I’ll admit I was a little jealous), a few ladies even had knitting to work on. Then there were the 35 and unders who were all on electronic devices, myself included. I’m a little awkward in those situations anyway, so any excuse to avoid eye contact is welcome, although after a while I got a little tired of staring down. So I did the unimaginable. I looked up. I couldn’t help but notice some interesting things about my fellow citizens. The room was completely silent. Every once in a while there was a whispered question or “excuse me” as someone got out of their seat to go to the bathroom. There was the occasional whir of the coffee machine, though that may have sounded louder since I was sitting right next to it.

Day 5: Take time to look up at the world around you. Soak it in, observe, draw conclusions, commit some things to memory, let other details stir your imagination, just look around, you don’t need to be entertained every minute of the day. This is one of those lessons I “know” and am often quoting to my husband when he’s chronically our adventures with his camera. But there’s something very special about just sitting down and doing it. I try hard not to be overly connected with my phone. I almost never take it to lunch and am usually the one person at the table not staring at something. But to sit in a room full of strangers, with no one to talk to, no screen to watch and nothing new to learn gave me a wonderful opportunity to play in my own mind.

My most exciting view

So thank you jury duty for reminding me of this great skill. Sometimes the best place to spend some time by yourself and get in touch with your thoughts is in a room full of strangers.